My Game Now
by LostInTheDreams
Summary: There will be no mistakes this time. I won't allow it. It has been my dream to make the world of reality and games indistinguishable. I had never meant for something like this to happen though and whoever this man is who thinks he can screw with my game, he is going to pay - even if I'm the bad guy in my own story.
1. Mirror, Mirror

**Prolog: Mirror, Mirror**

Let us be grateful to the mirror for revealing to us our appearance only.

\- Samuel Butler

Mokuba came into my room with all the seriousness of a solider about to go to war. I knew this was going to interrupt a good deal of my morning so I set my phone down, reading the news as I drank my coffee. The latter I knew I would need. "What?"

"Why did you make a me a girl?" my brother demanded. I let out a breath, knowing this was coming sooner or later. We'd both gotten over the betrayal and situation we had been in and I expected questions. They hadn't come, not before I told Mokuba about the new virtual game I was working on.

"Because I didn't put myself in the game now, did I? No one could say I was treating you special if it wasn't actually you. Some of the people from development said that, with your long hair, you'd make a good strong female lead. I thought you would be happy I made a character off of you that was all but the leader of that world." Considering the players themselves filled in the role of the heroes.

"You made me a princess!" He stomped his foot. I smirked.

"And I made you a princess," I counted. "I couldn't make you a prince and I didn't make you a queen. What better alternative would you have had me taken?"

"Anything," Mokuba demanded. "You could have made me a knight or something and put something over my head or tied my hair up."

"You hate your hair tied up."

"You said it had to be different so that's different! It's better than putting me in a dress."

"You didn't like it? I designed the dress myself." I took a sip of the coffee. "I used what I thought would be least offensive to you, since going with anything sleek or modern would have ruined both the story and likely any conversation you would have with me for the next few years."

He didn't seem to have anything to say to that but he was still mad. I knew he would be but I knew he'd get over it as well. To not have put myself in my own game showed it meant a lot for anyone I knew to be in it, even dressed as a girl. I held my hand out to him. "Hair brush?"

Mokuba colored a little and walked up to me, handing it over. "Here. Stop making it even worse."

"If you would cut your hair so you could brush it yourself then I'll stop."

Mokuba turned to me so I couldn't see his face, letting me brush his hair like I did every morning. I could never understand how it was so long and thick. Our mother had the black hair and hers had always been thinner and straight. I didn't know more than that, since I hadn't seen much of her or our father and I couldn't care to look into it. "I don't like short hair."

"Why? I have short hair." I hadn't asked Mokuba that question before. For so long I simply accepted the statement without question. I could understand that there were likes and dislikes. I hated my hair longer, simply because it itched and was irritating.

"Well… dad has short hair," he admitted. "And you kind of look like him, or so you've told me. So I figured maybe I could look like mom a little. We're still a family, even with them gone. It's a nice way to remember them."

I continued brushing his hair, having nothing to say to that. We were at a close friend of parents when we were told they had died. We went to the funeral but everything had been whispers and conversations that we weren't supposed to hear. I guessed early on that they'd been a part of something I'd not have my brother involved in but I hadn't ever wanted to share that information. I wasn't sure on it myself, though our father and I had had a few conversations towards darker things. Still, there was no point making accusations I couldn't back up. We didn't have their names anymore and whatever had happened back then, it didn't matter now. "We're still a family, no matter length your hair is. You can cut it if you want."

"It's kind of… I'm used to it now. Thanks for brushing it all the time. It's really hard to reach."

"It's okay. I don't mind." Even if I didn't see Mokuba for the rest of the day, I was usually around at some point to help him brush it out. It may have been one of the things that made it easier to turn his character into a girl. "As long as I have time."

"Is that all you were eating for breakfast?" Mokuba asked, turning but trying not to pull the brush as he looked at my coffee.

"I'll have something later. I'm going to go over the new game later today."

"Again?" Mokuba couldn't turn to me but he twitched as if he wanted to. "Can I help today?"

"No. It's all coding. I won't be doing anymore testing until next week at the earliest, depending on how far I get."

"You promised to make me myself this time. You'd better keep that promise."

"You'll be you. I'm still figuring it all out but once I get it down you can't be anything other than yourself. I want this to be live action role-playing game while being virtual as well as a card game. I'll figure it all out. Whatever group I'm not appealing to, I'll edit to get the support for it I need."

"You're really good at telling fairy tales. You should have kept doing that. In an open world where it's just… just players making decks and fighting us…. There should be something big, something more." He did turn to me now, as I finished brushing his hair. "Something you."

"I know how to appeal to kids. That doesn't make me the best at coming up with stories that I can get all age groups into."

"I liked the stories you used to tell me when I had nightmares. I don't know why you stopped doing that." Mokuba looked somewhat sad as he smiled. "You're busy though, I get it. I still think you should add a story of your own in there."

"I'll think about it." That would be a lot more work on top of all the environmental details and add-ins that I was creating to make my world as real as I could. It would surpass everything that everyone knew about dual monsters and virtual reality. My previous game would look like a five-year-old's attempt compared to this one. "What kind of story? You and I are the final bosses of the game, so I don't think making us the villains will get us many fans." I didn't need them but going from being a princess to a villain didn't suit Mokuba well.

"Hm. You can have the good guys be the bosses too. I'm sure there was a way."

There was. It wasn't that well used and it wouldn't work for me, being the final boss, but it could work for Mokuba. I could easily make him a hero beside the person who made it to the end to battle us. That would mean I would have to be a villain instead of simply an obstacle, but Mokuba would be happy with the ending. I smiled to myself, noticing the world around me after a few seconds of forgetting about it and seeing my brother smiling back at me.

"Had a great idea, huh?"

"Something I can roll with. I'll have to work on NPCs outside of the normal quests for an overall story quest, but I have the basics worked out already."

"See? You're a great storyteller. I would never have been able to think of something that fast. I bet it's going to be awesome."

"I'm making it. Of course it will be."

Mokuba started to roll his eyes but he looked happy enough. He took the brush back and waved to me with the hand holding it. "I'll see you later, big brother. Make sure to have breakfast."

I watched him go, new ideas swimming in my head. It could all work out, and no matter the audience, it would be appealing, even if all age groups were able to play. I felt my lip turn up in a smile again as I stood and went to my laptop case to retrieve it and start up the coding while I kept a hold of the story I'd be integrating into the game. I'd have it out by the end of the year.


	2. Immersion

**My Game Now**

 **...**

"Deletion. For data at least ... is an easy task to accomplish."  
 _\- Gosho Aoyama_

…

 **Chapter 1: Immersion**

I moved my paperwork about. It was tedious, running this company. As much as the gaming industry was my life, some of the more… pathetic endeavors still had to be attended too.

Right now a gaming console we were working on was nothing but a spec compared to his VR machines I had finished not so many months ago now and improved dramatically in the last few weeks as well. It wasn't a step down- it was a fall down the stairs.

Mass marketing though had to be budgeted, and no one was willing to spend a thousand dollars to purchase one of the far more advanced machines. While I was personally working on making my own, far cheaper software, it would still be a while before I was able to cut costs enough to release it to the public. It was taking time though, and apparently there were others that thought I should expand to the current generation of children. I left a lot of that up to others, simply checking over the work and numbers before it made it's way out of development.

"Seto, we need to get downtown soon. They're unveiling that new store and they asked you to show up."

I looked over at my little brother. I had no idea when Mokuba had walked in, but it looked like he'd been standing there for a while. The idea of leaving though was not anymore appealing than staying.

"Just because the Nojima Company agreed to work with Kaiba Corp does not mean I have to attend their public functions, even if it was a dual effort from both companies. If you want to go, you can." I moved one of the papers over to the side, eyeing it with consideration. I'd rather be working on my own mechanics than dealing with the pleasantries and tyrannical nature of the corporate world. I was good at it, but that didn't mean it was where I'd place all my time.

Mokuba sighed. "But Seto, you're going to have to start stepping outside for more than just Duel Monsters. The company's important too, isn't it?"

I put his fingers to his forehead, giving my brother's argument some thought. In the end though, minor stores that no one on the map would ever consider important didn't matter to me. I was going to be the one to revolutionize the gaming world for a second time.

"I don't have time for such non-sense. If I were interested at all in the opening of a store, it would be my own. We're simply providing most of the merchandise. If they want my appearance, they had better have something important to be showing off. This. This is nothing. They can handle things on their own."

"But Seto, I thought that they were your business partners now."

"Yes, Partners. This is their endeavor. This company has helped with the funding and stock and we've played our part."

Mokuba put his hands on his hips like a condescending wife. Maybe my little brother was one of the reasons that I never sought out any female company. If Mokuba, my own brother and a male, was this bad, I didn't want to know how annoying having more prancing around the place would be.

"Fine, if that's what you want, Seto. Are you going to be busy with this for the next few hours then? I know you had the simulation center running last night. I was in the production room and didn't get to watch. What were you working on?"

"Nothing much." I wasn't working on my deck anymore. Yugi, my rival since the day he'd stepped his big toe into the gaming world, now held a far better hand than I ever could. That did _not_ mean I was ever going to lose to him again. Battle City might be over, and I might have lost, but there'd be a next time. I was sure of it. And when that happened, I'd be ready.

"So… what are we going to do about the stuff in the basement? Were you planning on working on that again?"

"Maybe later. I have some issues to sort out right now. We're low on our profit margins this month and there have been several employees who need to be dealt with." My eyes focused more on my little brother, as he seemed to have a trouble keeping his feet attached to the floor. I sighed. "But I'm sure I'll have time for it tonight."

"Yes!" Mokuba jumped up into the air with a fist. "It's great that I actually get to help you with the game this time! I was mad when you left me out of the last one."

I had been fond of that game. It had great ideas, but after what we went through inside of there, I wasn't planning anything of that nature again. It would take years, maybe more than most would be willing to spend, on something so frivolous. But then, I had made games my life's work.

"At least you said I could be myself this time. You know how embarrassing that would have been if you'd released that?"

I did have a faint smile for that remark. "It couldn't be helped. You have such long hair if I'd have made you a male back in those times, it would have been unrealistic. We've had this conversation already though, haven't we?"

Mokuba pouted before practically skipping across the room to the door, going to close it before ducking back in before he left. "I'm here to stop you from doing it this time. Don't forget, you promised."

The door shut and all I could think was that I made no such promise, I merely surmised that I might have time for it tonight.

Setting the rest of the paperwork in front of me, I went over where all the income from the latest business merger was going, as well as all the new financial ties we had. I had to calculate in some of the payroll for long time employees who were due for a raise as well as maintenance and the bills for this building along with the costs of the jet. I'd only used it once this month but it needed to be refueled again, as well as checked over due to not being used often. After counting up the money from all the other companies that we was working with, as well as the store fronts and other building's income and costs. I put my fingers to my head, feeling a headache come on.

The fools that thought running a game company was simple - no, a gaming empire - should try just one hour of walking in my shoes.

There was a knock at the door that made me look up.

"Um. Sorry for bothering you, Seto, but it's getting late and I'm getting hungry."

"Go eat. I'm nearly done. After this I'll meet you in the basement."

"Kay, but you should eat something too."

The door closed again and I stood. I needed to take something for the headache or I wouldn't he able to concentrate on the project.

Project Shinryū was going to he be my masterpiece, and no two-faced company morons were going to get in my way this time. I had all the basics set up, as well as the mechanics, and Mokuba seemed to more than enjoy it. This was going to remake the game of Duel Monsters.

After taking some pain medication I made my way downstairs, the lights on and the pods ready. My idea had always been sound and it would be again. This time though, there were no bugs. The world could be left any time and the only reason there were covers that I hadn't planned on using again for my newly crafted pods - along with the new design to imitate certain Duel Monsters and the extra comfort and monitors to the chairs themselves - was protect any personal items and the participants themselves. While they were automatic, once the power was cut and, thus, the game ended, they became manually removable. It would be expensive and time consuming, but I had a plan for them this time.

Mokuba practically ran into me as I came in the room. "Here." He handed me some sort of thrown together sandwich that my kid brother had obviously put together himself. "I know you didn't go out to get food so I made this."

"Thanks." _I guess_. I had to admit I might need it. If we were going to be testing out the pods again for the next hour or two, it'd help.

I'd moved the pods for testing down into development. While there were a few people besides myself who could now enter, for the most part the new game had remained only my brother's and my own. I watched the door, making sure the keypad secured it before going over to the first pod. It wasn't like my prototype from before. This one was entirely white, the seat inside synthetic leather, and was crafted as if you were lying on the back of a Blue-Eyes White Dragon.

"Are we going to play this time or look for bugs still? The regeneration program still seems off."

"I know. I was going to try and fix that up this afternoon but I ran short on time." I might be able to get to it tomorrow or the next day if nothing came up.

My old headsets were out of style. Ever since virtual reality had shot up in popularity, I found myself competing with others for the latest in gear. While the program was still far too heavy for most computer systems to run, the rest of the mechanic I was able to adapt for the future. I went over and grabbed new headsets from the few lying on the table. This one only covered the eyes, speakers were built in to rest just above the ears. The pods now functioned on a half mental and half physical level. The trance-like state the game now put people under had worked on most everyone I had tested but I was sure when it went into beta that there would be a few it didn't work on and I'd need to make modifications.

The set was all adjustable, though they did come in two separate sizes based on how old a person was. I was holding off marketing to anyone under five for the time being. I wasn't going to mess with children who couldn't control all their body functions.

"Cool. I was only able to get half my deck, since we haven't had much time. I still haven't found all the monsters I want." Mokuba went over and grabbed a headset of his own. If there was one thing I would say about my kid brother, it was that he didn't know very much fear. He was hesitant when it came to certain things, but fearful wasn't the same thing. I had thought I'd lost him the last time we'd played a VR game – my own and the first of its kind. I was never going to let that happen again. This new simulation was built around safety now, and I didn't want him to ever be put in that situation again.

"To be honest, I haven't finished either." I had gone into my own game with just three cards. I was going to earn the rest, just like I expected all the other players of the game to accomplish.

Duel Monsters were no longer just cards or just companions. In order to gain one, you had to want it.

"Ready." Mokuba seated himself inside the pod. I didn't spend much time getting into mine either. The headset had all of my personal data stored on it, so there was no real startup time after the first session. I closed the pod with the press of a button, strapped on the monitor I knew I wouldn't need, and logged into the game.

…

Just like the world outside, though I hadn't done more than look out my window, the moon was out and the area was coated in shadow. Mokuba was right near me, though I had made adjustments in-game so we could still talk as if we had an earpiece. It made playing with friends simpler, particularly if they weren't in the same area. The headset did all the work as long as you set voice chat on through the virtual menu that you could access on a cell phone given to all players that usually hung on the side of the dueling deck pouch around the waist. I'd made a few in-game options available if you had the right amount of virtual money to afford them. Nothing here needed to be gained through actual payment, though I knew developers never liked it when I made myself clear on that stance.

Mokuba laughed. "This is so cool. It feels just like I'm outside." My little brother dropped into the grass, staring up at the virtual stars. Mokuba lifted his hand instead of searching through his deck for the card he wanted, another feature that I was proud of. Besides visual cues, the game could recognize spoken ones. I'd even built in a reorganization function for sign language. "I summon Faith Bird!"

I watched as the programming brought up the creature, making sure it was up to standards. I had been afraid for a while and had to think on how I would handle flight in this game. There was a height limit now and if anyone fell without a creature they wouldn't get more than ten feet before the game logged them out and they woke up. They could easily start back again and the default would place them on the closest solid land mass from where they fell. That add-on made the fear of falling in the game a lot less of a drawback.

The bird, a blue one and about Mokuba's own height, paced in front of him before sitting down next to him. I watched, a smile pulling at my lips. "You're going to go hunting in the mountains again?"

Mokuba nodded. "You hid a lot of good cards at the top and I'm looking for some more winged-beasts to add to my deck."

"You know those are weak, Mokuba. I told you, you're going to need a better deck than that before this game goes public."

"That's a long time from now. Don't worry about it." Mokuba got up, the Duel Monster getting up with him. The bird didn't seem to mind his weight at all as Mokuba climbed on. "Besides, there are some crystals up there."

"Who's stopping you?"

Mokuba nodded. I didn't know how my kid brother could get so happy just by telling me things like that. I watched him take off.

My own deck was in a pouch at my side. When there was no dueling active, the cards stayed there so they could be summoned any time to help with the challenges I'd built into the game. The cards, unlike before, were monsters first and foremost and had to be recruited to be able to turn into cards and join your deck, or received at the end of a quest. Only one could be physically summoned at a time, outside of a duel.

I stuck out his hand as Mokuba had. "I summon Thunder Dragon!"

There was a roar and a strong breeze as the dragon emerged from the ground, flying upward before curling around and lowering his head to me. I'd just needed a monster tamed to make sure that the code was running smoothly. It would have a long time in beta to check each and every one. Though most of their personalities were the same as on the cards, a few had been changed to make sure that younger kids weren't afraid to log in.

Since even virtually it was hard to ride some of these dragons, I'd added a saddle into one of the shops that was built to fit any monster. Items were portrayed as cards to be easily carried, and any number of those could be summoned at once. I lifted one of my own, knowing it was completely unnecessary since I had no issues riding most Duel Monsters, but I had to check for any flaws in the system.

A black saddled appeared on its back and, at my command, the dragon lowered his head for me to climb on. The handles were Mokuba's design, as were about half of the items in the accessory shop in town.

"Up!"

The dragon took off, giving me time to judge the wind, the sights, and the smells that the game had to offer. It was night so the settings were a little different, but they were all working properly.

I breathed out, a thin mist forming in front of me due to the height and the time of day. The game played out in real time.

The air smelled fresh and I'd admit only to myself that after a long day at work, it was nice. This is what I wanted my games to do.

Simple thought alone wasn't enough for the creatures though. I had to direct the dragon, scanning over landscapes where dozen of other Duel Monsters were randomly scattered about, most of them in packs, though a few of the more rare monsters were seen alone. Some were even in the skies alongside of me.

None were attacking, and none would, unless provoked. By revolutionizing things, I made sure that gathering Duel Monsters wasn't battle oriented. In this game, each type of monster was only acquired through completing one task or another. For dragons, they had to be given something that shined. Often it was diamonds or emeralds that I'd created in mines or mountain caves. They were rare, but they were there. To get to them, there were puzzles on the way or other strategy based games to get through.

Other types worked the same way. For Mokuba's, he'd had to find the Faith Bird's favorite type of food and offer it. For stronger winged-beast Duel Monsters, the fruits and berries necessary were progressively harder to find.

Of course this game was still my own and I had my three dragons, but even I was binding myself to the rules of the game and would, when it was finished, build up a deck of my own. The regeneration for the trap and magic cards that were hidden throughout the world was still buggy. Some would reappear in the same spots if they were taken, others would have too many of one card show up when they weren't supposed to.

"Seto!"

I looked over at Mokuba as he and his bird flew up slightly beside me, the dragon's wings further back and not risking hitting the other. There was a field around a player and their creature so no contact could be made, but I hadn't tested it out with anything that flew yet.

"What?"

"This is great!" Mokuba's hands went up, the wind blowing his hair behind him. "You're almost done with it! Soon I bet we can even bring in some other people."

Yes, soon. Once the programming was fixed on what I already knew was wrong. "I thought you were going to the mountains."

"I did!" Mokuba showed off a clear quartz crystal. "This is all I needed." It just as soon turned into a card in his hand, making my brother smile. "You know, you're a genius!"

"Please. Anyone who cared to put their mind to something as simple as this would have been able to do it." Even from my brother, it was hard to take the compliment. It was only after Pegasus that I really decided to do more with my resources. There was no way someone like _him_ was going to get away showing me up, and I'd come a long way since the duel discs.

Mokuba sighed. "You know, is it so hard for you to take a compliment?" When I said nothing back, Mokuba dropped the conversation. "Any chance you're actually going to start playing?"

"No. It's not fair to the other players. You're more of a tester and it's more advantageous, as well as fair, to have you pick out what you need with the time that the game is still being tested. Here." I tossed him a card. It disappeared when it left my hand and reappeared in front of Mokuba as he reached his hand out. "That I found. Keep it."

Mokuba looked it over before sliding it into the deck at his side. "Thanks. You know having yourself at the same level as everyone else though might pose problems. As long as you accept a duel before your have your deck, people can duel you."

"I'm not afraid of losing. I made this game and I know its secrets. That gives me the advantage, as well as having my three trusted cards at my side. If anyone is foolish enough to try and duel me before I find all the cards I need, they'll be the ones who are sorry."

"There you go, talking like you could never lose. Well if you do, I can always take over."

Mokuba's smile was cute enough, it had swayed me a few times before, but my brother couldn't duel himself out of a paper bag most of the time. He had been learning a lot, but I'd never seen Mokuba put any of it into practice before. In fact, now that I was thinking of it, I hadn't seen my brother duel in a fair battle in a long time.

"You're not going to try that with those stupid birds of yours, are you?"

"Of course not just them. I'm not an idiot. You can't win with just effect monsters. Just wait. You'll see. I'll build a great deck and even you will have a hard time beating me."

"I don't suppose you'd like to take over Kaiba Corp when that happens, would you?"

Mokuba looked kind of uncomfortable after that. "No… why would I? That's you're job. Just because I'm trying to beat you doesn't stop you from being my big brother."

Maybe I could have worded that better. Mokuba was still far too young anyway. He wasn't me and he didn't have to be. "Just forget it. I was joking. I wouldn't put a kid in charge of the company."

"Well… you were a kid when _you_ took over."

"That was different." That was very different. Mokuba was normal. He didn't need to worry about anything more than the duties he was already given at the company, which were already far above is age level.

We flew over the desert area after we left the mountains. It was large but we were just dealing with the outskirts of all the various landscapes right now. I'd deal with the rest when I had more time to individually check each one. The water was proving to be one of the hardest. The mind could be tricked into feeling it though, and I had made it so drowning was impossible. It just took some time.

…

…

Six months later

…

"This is so exciting!" Mokuba was bouncing around me, the reservations for playing the game having sold out the day before, to those first fifty who had been in line. That was only at the main Kaiba Land branch. The gaming areas that I'd had to build around the cities were expensive, but it meant the public didn't to pay for the pods and I'd be able to open the other areas up and more people would have a chance to play after I was sure there were no bugs. It was being released as a beta for now and I'd keep it that way until I was completely happy with it. A thousand yen a session was nothing, and most of those out there should easily be able to afford it. I had set up an online application for those from lower income households to apply for to get in for free as long as there weren't people trying to take advantage of the system that shouldn't.

We wouldn't see any profit for this gaming venture in this year alone but it would eventually pay for itself. I was using it more as a publicity stunt after all the failed launches and mergers that had happened within the company.

The first several floors of Kaiba Corp were now gaming areas for the new project, though I had kept the others active as well, if not moving a few. I would be in a personal one upstairs. I'd had far too many people after me that I wasn't going to risk the public as well, and Mokuba would never have agreed to play in a separate room if I hadn't agreed as well.

"Calm down. The game isn't going anywhere." I stared down at my kid brother. Mokuba had been playing this game with only me for far too long now. "And thanks. It looks like everything is going according to plan this time."

"You're playing the country-wide launch with everyone next month, after we're sure, even though we already are, that everything is up and running correctly, right? I guess having a deck already is kind of unfair, but maybe I can help the other players."

"You do that." The game itself came with no instructions. The capturing of monsters was explained at the shops scattered throughout the different starting areas, depending on which surrounding a person chose, and I was sure word of mouth would travel just as fast.

"Come on, Seto. You could at least act a little excited. After all, you never really played it yet either. You also refused to let me see the storyline, so I have no idea where your having the game go."

"No, but considering I made up all rules, the quests, the landscapes as well as the hidden areas and secret monsters that are scattered around, playing it won't matter much now." The randomization of the Duel Monsters was going to make finding particular ones hard, but I could easily narrow down my search area. I also still had Thunder Dragon so there wouldn't be players swarming me if I summoned Blue-Eyes.

Mokuba looked disappointed at my response. "You still have to duel me first when you're done."

"You have to beat the game. That's the only way to duel me and I made sure it isn't going to be easy. Of course, that means you have to fight yourself first."

"Myself?"

"I'm the final boss in this game. You're the second." I had it set up that, after seven of the nine hardest tasks in the game were completed and the story-line was finished, there was a secret battle area with, of course, a final boss. There, there are innumerous NPCs that would battle those who challenged them. If they won, they would go on to battle Mokuba's gaming counterpart.

While I had the idea of making Mokuba himself play the part of the person testing the participants, he wanted to be a player more than a named character in the game. I had gone with his wishes and made sure that, this time, he was a male. What reaction he would have when he came face to face with himself would not be my problem.

If they succeeded after that, I had it set so the game would take the player to the next area where they would put in their personal information as the game analyzed, then and they were able to publicly dual me with remakes of whatever their virtual deck was or their real one if they chose.

Of course, they didn't have to do that. Mokuba's counterpart was the one that would lead challengers to the villain of the virtual game. They could choose to duel me either in the game, publicly, or for both the duel and the storyline. It was up to them, since I wasn't an NPC and wouldn't be playing out the storyline at the same time I was having a legitimate duel with someone. After the first week my character was going to be replaced with an NPC because I couldn't be there all the time.

Once I finished up with some contracts, the game could even been spread as soon as next week, if I wanted to take it out of beta so soon. The issue lay with making sure that there were multiple severs that could be jumped between to make sure everyone wound up where they wanted and with who they wanted to be with. While I would like to have it all on one server, even my own computers couldn't keep up with that kind of demand.

Tonight I'd be playing with Mokuba, just to make sure there weren't any last minute changes I wanted to make. Once everyone logged in I'd have to test the game's capabilities fully.

"Even with the rain everyone stood out, waiting to be a part of this. It's so much fun! We can have whatever Duel Monsters we want now, as long as we try for them. And I'm sure no one could hack through your system and try to cheat."

"They'd be a fool if they did. Not only is the software I built in able to locate where they'd be transmitting from, but it comes with a fun little bug of my own so I can find them. Of course, they'll only get far enough to find my firewall when this all happens. Getting past it is impossible." I was not about to let someone like Pegasus get into my main frame again. It was locked up with all the protection and coding I could give it, and I'd be checking any suspicious IP activity daily.

"Why do you keep testing the game out anyway? You and I both know it works fine." Mokuba walked beside me. It was early morning and I was still planning on getting a few things settled as far as numbers went before lunch.

"Virtual reality is still new in a sense that, besides a headset and a small machine that can support it, nothing this large scale or with these graphics have been produced before besides by myself, and we both know how that went. I'm not going to release something and then find that I made a mistake somewhere. I don't think you need to be reminded about the last time a project went wrong."

Mokuba lowered his head. "No, I guess not, but this time you made sure no one _touched_ the game and no soul can get past your firewalls. I know you built it from the framework up, and I'm sure you would have fixed any little thing that was wrong."

"It's still a lot of power, and as far as I'm concerned, will remain in beta even after it's released until I know for sure it's working properly."

"I'd say you worry too much if I didn't know you were right most of the time."

I stopped and looked down at my little brother. "Most of the time?"

Mokuba took a hand, wiping his nose and smiling at me with remorseful eyes - as if he were apologizing and laughing at me at the same time. "You've been wrong a few times and you know it. You were the one who started up the first virtual reality game when I told you not to."

Mokuba had a point there. I'd just been happy that it had been finished. If I was being true to myself, now that Project Shinryū was done, I was eager to start it up right now as well. We all had to wait, both those now allowed inside and my brother and I. I had said six, and six it would be. That was still a few hours away and I had been planning on overseeing, not playing.

I wanted to see my creation come to life. Finding my hand falling to my side, I drew my real Blue Eyes White Dragon card. In all the testing, I still had never summoned the dragon.

A smile crossed my face, though I didn't take notice of it until after. I could always start the game up early, just to be sure. Lunch could wait.

"Seto, can with wait two seconds? I didn't know you were going to want to log in right away and I kind of have to go to the bathroom."

"Better hurry." I smiled at my little brother, seeing an annoyed look in return before he ran off in the direction of the bathroom.

"You'd better not start it before me!"

Still smirking at his reaction, I went into elevator, going up to his personal room. The windows along the edges of it let me look at the dozens and dozens of other similar pods while keeping the two in here secure. Maybe one day a computer site, as well as the machine, would be able to host a game like this. Until then, it had to be run off my own supercomputers. It meant I couldn't make it any more widespread than my thermals in my own parks, but I was sure given time I could find a way to mass market the technology to the world.


	3. Reality Reboot

_"I will admit there's a certain degree of giving a fuck that goes into not giving a fuck. By saying you don't care if the world falls apart, in some small way you're saying you want it to stay together, on your terms."_  
 _― David Levithan_

…

 **Chapter 2: Reality Reboot**

"Who are you?" I demanded calmly, the door closing behind me. I had built a lot of security into this somewhat small room so that Mokuba and I would be safe. I didn't know anyone who could bypass it but I was sure there were a few out there. The day you thought someone couldn't into your system was the day technology stopped advancing.

The man standing before me was near my own age, if not slightly older. I narrowed my eyes, something unnatural about him setting off instincts I tried to pretend I didn't have. My visual ones were more easily relied on. He had unnaturally colored dull blond hair that looked like he hadn't washed it in some time. His clothes were common at best and something I'd burn in a fire at worst. While I could spot no weapon, I was tense. I was sure it had to be some sort of trick when I noticed purple flash across his gray eyes.

"I'm hurt. You don't remember me?" I watched the man put a hand on his hip. That was the important part – seeing what he did with his hands. The other clenched at his side. "Then again, you never did get my name. I think you should know whose about to kill you. I'm Gaius." The man inclined his head ever so slightly in a miniature bow. "And I think it's about time I paid you back for that night on the bridge."

"I've had a lot of people make such claims. As you can see I'm alive and well." I thought as I spoke. I didn't go out much and there were a lot of bridges in the world. While I don't go seeking out fights often, I've had to defend myself more than a few times. If I'd gotten into a confrontation with him, I was sure it was through his own, petty actions. I remembered people who crossed me who I deemed threats. "How did you get in here?"

"Magic. Do you believe in magic, Kaiba? Magic brought me back to life after you tried to kill me. Magic got me through all your security without it once noticing me. Magic allowed me entrance to this room." Gaius laughed as if speaking of magic was funny. I was tempted to laugh along with him.

"Nonsense."

"Oh, too bad. Here I wanted to get you nice and terrified before you died. Oh well. See this?" The man put his hand on top of the Blue-Eyes pod I used and I tensed further, losing the smile his earlier words had given me. "Th-"

"Don't touch my pod. Get out of here."

My words didn't seem to sway him. If anything it looked like I angered him by interrupting his overly climatic speech. Idiots usually reacted like that. There was a purple flash in his eyes once more and I narrowed in on the light, trying to see where it was coming from.

"Fine, Kaiba. Have it your way."

A motion at the floor caught my eye and I noticed the shadows – small as they were considering the lighting – start to swirl and grow as if they were alive. I took a step back. Too many times I had been dragged into something I would rather have not – things that made no sense, that I wasn't able to fight against, that others seemed to know better than me. I wasn't going to be at that type of disadvantage again.

Taking another step back, I ran at the man, going to hit him. If I knocked him out before all this weird stuff started to happen then I could stop it.

Magic, or whatever the phenomenon wanted to call itself, never saw things my way. The second I touched the shadow I was stuck. I couldn't move my feet from where they were and I felt a numbness go up through my legs. The shadows spread, darkening the room, and Gaius laughed.

"Going to listen to me now, aren't you? The shadows told me all about this little game of yours. The owner of Kaiba Corp, prodigy student, putting all of his time and energy into stupid little games of fantasy. You gave me an opening I could use though. Let's see how it feels to have your own game turned against you. Let's see how you like it when you die by your own laws."

I was not about to get attacked in a video game again. The first and second time had been bad enough, and both times it had put Mokuba in danger. I wasn't going to let that happen again.

Then the swirling darkness was gone, almost faster than I could blink, and Gaius stood before me, a smirk on his face. "I'll have fun watching this. Go on, Kaiba, play your game."

"What are you talking about?" I swallowed, clearing my throat slightly. My voice had come out deeper, as if were resonating. I didn't miss the strange sweeping of my clothes or the dark color of my skin as I shifted my arm.

"Hello, King of the Shadow City. Fitting that you put yourself in such a position. Nice story, by the way. In order to end all this, the heroes will have to kill you."

There was a crash and I turned my head, watching as something that looked like a bird made out of fire came in through the windows, scaring the people below me. The light hurt my eyes to watch directly so I turned my attention back to Gaius. "What did you do?"

"I gave you what every game designer would love. Reality. Your game is now real." He raised a hand, showing off a duel monster's card. It didn't look normal. There was a rim of purple light around it. "With a few exceptions. I blocked off the Shadow Realm. This world is now entirely your game. Only you can end the story and return everything to normal. What are you going to do, Kaiba?" He laughed, purple fire appearing around him and seeing to _eat_ him until he vanished.

"Seto!" Mokuba ran into the room, the door whisper quiet as it opened. He froze besides me, taking a few steps back.

"It's me," I spoke as softly as I could with the new voice. I had designed the antagonist of the game as I had all the others. I knew I didn't look much like myself, though my hairstyle should have remained the same, if not black. I could feel the frail crown on my head hiding that fact some, and took it off. "Don't be scared."

"Seto… why are you all…" Mokuba seemed to struggle for his words as I slowly turned towards him, the black cape I wore now sweeping around me.

"Because someone messed with my game again and, so help me, he's going to pay." I clenched my fist at my side, nails longer than they used to be and cutting into my palm. I didn't care for a moment, confusion and anger warning inside of me while I tried to get my composure back. First things first. "There's a Duel Monster down in the pod room. We have to do something about that." I couldn't understand how it was there - debating that I wasn't having some kind of delusion after that man had possibly hypnotized me - but I knew enough that the chance of danger with all those kids wasn't worth risking.

"Yeah… that's why I rushed back here. I could hear something going on from the bathroom. Is that really a Duel Monster?"

"It looks like it." I stared back down through the floor, making sure my eyes didn't stay directly on the flame. "Wings of the Wicked Flame if I had to guess."

"There's a… real Duel Monster here."

It seemed I wasn't the only one having issues with seeing Duel Monsters here. At least the few times I'd be willing to admit that magic may have had something to do with their presence, they had always been summoned. Shadow Realm? I remember Yugi saying something about that. What it was though, I wasn't all that sure.

"I guess we should evacuate." Mokuba exited the room and I heard the fire alarm blare not seconds later. I had protocol set up for any electronics. In some rooms there weren't even sprinklers. The pods quickly closed themselves, a few people inside of them, while the water sizzled and smoke rose up from the fiery wings. The creature quickly darted around, seeing no escape from the water, and then flew back out the window.

I exited after Mokuba, searching for him and grabbing him by the back of his shirt. "Come on. We need to get out of here."

"But Seto… look."

I stopped long enough to backtrack and look out the window Mokuba was pointing too. I didn't miss all the creatures that were suddenly outside, in the air, some on top of buildings. They didn't seem to be attacking anything like the Wicked Flame had, but they were creating enough chaos that it was hard to tell. There were people screaming and running everywhere, some from inside Kaiba Corp that had exited after the water started to fall.

"Oh, wow. I mean… but wow." Mokuba had his head poking up to see out the window that was slightly too tall for him. I stood there, a hand on my forehead while I thought. This was a lot to take in and that was considering how much I had already been through too.

"Mokuba, I think this is the game."

I wasn't able to see if my brother turned to me or not but right now I had several things that I needed to do. First, I needed to make sure everyone who was in the building was okay. Second, and it would bypass my first objective if need be, I would have to get Mokuba somewhere safe. Something very wrong was going on. Third, I was going to find that asshole who thought he could mess with something of mine in this way and believed he could actually get away with it. The magic and monsters would just have to be put on the sideline until all of that was done.

"Hey, Seto, I think you're right. Look."

I opened my eyes to see that Mokuba had a belt at his waist that I knew he hadn't had before. I could see the pack for the cards as well as the cell phone that I had programmed into the game. Mokuba was going through his cards and looking them over. "They're all the ones I had in the game. Do you still have yours?"

Good question. I was now in some outrageous outfit that had only been meant for my NPC version, finding both a rapier hilt at my side along with my own dueling pack and cellular. I opened it, looking over the four cards I had during my testing. "It seems so."

"How did this happen?" Mokuba looked uncomfortable, his eyes never staying on mine too long. I knew why. I hadn't made my antagonist self to appeal to puppies and kittens. "And way do you look like that?"

"The game needed a bad guy once I added the story line. I was already the final boss. I solved the issues with filling in the role of both the last obstacle and the end of the story." I knew Mokuba wouldn't be happy with that but right now it was the last thing on my mind. If my game was real, and there were Duel Monsters wandering all around Tokyo, I wondered how much else was real. There was the very real fact that Mokuba and I were the only ones that would have cards, though I wasn't even sure if I believed in this nonsense.

"But… Seto, you're not a bad guy."

"That's why the whole point of the game is to have the heroes win. I was going to be playing the villain for the first week, to get any challengers who wanted to duel me and not for the game. Besides, I make a pretty good bad guy." I knew I did. It wasn't something to be ashamed of. Everyone had their talents. I suddenly wondered what happened with my in-game items and the NPCs. There was no way to get past certain trials without the help of them.

I shook my head. This stopped being a game and turned into a nightmare. I had to stop worrying about all of that. I pulled Mokuba towards the elevator again. "Come on, Mokuba. It's not safe out here. We should head to the basement. The security should still be up and most of the walls there are reinforced so you should be safe there."

"Seto! Stop!" Mokuba dug his feet into the ground and it took all my patience not to just keep dragging him when I knew he was in danger. I could always just pick him up and carry him away too. I stopped.

"What?"

"Think this through better. If we're the only one's who know what's going on, we're the only ones who can protect the others. I know you had some areas where they attack or challenge you. There's no game over now, is there? What if people get hurt?"

"Then they get hurt!" I tried to keep my voice under control, knowing it came out harsher now, but it was hard to just stand there, not on ground level, while flaming monsters were running into my building. "Mokuba, I'm going to try and figure something out but I can't spend half my attention worrying about you while I do."

"Then don't." Mokuba used his free hand and went for his card belt, pulling out the first one he touched and showing me the card. "Let's see if this still works. I'm going to feel pretty stupid if it doesn't. I summon Blue-Winged Crown."

With everything that was going on, I was still numb to surprise. I watched as a blue bird with two heads, larger than my brother but shorter than me, materialized next to him. One head turned to the left, the red plumage on top falling to the side while the other head took a look around, it's wings flapping as it waited for an order.

"I have my deck. I can protect myself better than those downstairs can. A lot of people outside are worried. Seto, we need to help them."

I fought between throwing him over my shoulder and giving in. I didn't let my features show my indecision as I thought on the matter. Mokuba would be fine with me. I had my Blue-Eyes still, if I needed them, and there were few monsters that could stand up against it. The safest place for Mokuba, then, would be by my side. I didn't know where I'd be going though or where to find the man that had started this all.

"Umm… Seto? Can you think on this somewhere else? Everyone downstairs is still panicking."

"Fine. Put your bird away, you're riding with me." I went to the elevator, getting inside and hoping that the crash earlier hadn't damaged anything. Mokuba came in besides me and we were both greeted to a very bumpy ride as the cable lowered us, either damaged or the mechanism had something jammed in it.

Kaiba Corp was no stronghold. I could calm the people here but they ultimately needed somewhere to go, somewhere with less windows that was more easily protected.

Nothing like that came to mind so we'd have to deal with what we had. I exited when the elevator chimed, opening and falling a few inches short of where it should have stopped. That was going to be off limits for now unless it was an emergency.

As I had seen above, there were people hiding and crying and children huddling together. A lot of them had run out of the building, a few broken windows obviously man-made and not from the beast to show their exit.

"Everyone!" I shouted. Now that I wanted to be loud my voice echoed around the room as if I had a blow horn. "Calm down! There's something going on outside and it could be dangerous! Those still here follow me! We're going to down a few levels!" I eyed the remaining crowd. There were maybe fifteen to twenty children and half a dozen over the ages of fifteen. The children listened to me, standing and moving slowly as they came forward. More than a few seemed hesitant but I was sure Mokuba's presence was helping contradict my own a bit.

Why did the world always have to go to hell when I was about to revolutionize it?

I lead them all downstairs, past several security checkpoints, until I had them in a conference room. "Alright, all of you stay here for now. You can leave at any time but it's better if you don't. No one except a few others and myself can get in from the other side and the second you open a door you provide a security risk." I took this opportunity to excuse myself, Mokuba following after me as I went over to one of the washrooms down here.

I spent very little time discarding the cloak. Better the children seeing me look eccentrically evil than whatever would happen to my appearance after. "This is ridiculous." I eyed myself in the mirror, my skin darker, my hair black, and my clothes and old English royal style, also black with a white trim. I placed the crown on the sink, silver with embedded red jewels. I may actually need that. Taking the coat off I threw it on the floor beside the cloak, now wearing simply a white silk shirt and black pants. It seemed whatever spell or magic this was, it had changed my eye color as well. As much as I disliked them, I'd have to look for sunglasses. Red, slightly luminescent eyes were off-putting, even to me.

"Seto?"

"Hm?" I turned to my little brother, his eyes roaming what was left of my costume.

"Are you keeping that sword?"

"I might have to." I closed my eyes. "You can wear the crown though. In the game they're magical items for whoever wins." I tapped the sword. "This will instantly defeat any creature but it can only be used once and then needs to recharge for a few days. The crown allows you to win over up to five Duel Monsters without completing the objective for them. Once that's used up, it's useless." Now that it wasn't a game any longer, I wasn't sure how those were going to work. The Duel Monsters I had seen in the city were running rampant. I had programmed them far more passively, though there were evil ones, just as there were evil people.

I watched Mokuba put on crown, knowing it would be too big for him. The crown didn't think it should be though, and it settled around his hair until it fit him perfectly. I let out a breath. One of these days I'd figure out how to have magic make sense.

"So, what do we do now?"

I had to think on that. It sounded as if, to play the game through, I needed to be challenged and defeated. It wasn't hard to take that. I wanted a real challenge, to face great duelist and show I could overcome anyone. To simply roll over was not to my liking, but if it didn't feel like a real duel, I could do it.

I didn't have a full deck myself and Mokuba did. He could easily challenge me here and now, with no one to witness, and he would know it was just to end this stupid magic show. I wasn't sure surrendering before the duel started would be enough to count as a win. I had never considered I would surrender in any case, so it wasn't against the rules if I did.

"Let's see if this works then. I challenge you to a duel." I put my hand on my card pack at my side, which glowed for a moment. I paid it no mind. "Do you accept?"

"Oh, ah. Sure." Mokuba put a hand on his own card pack as well. There was a strange light that seemed to wash over the room and between us were glowing numbers, our life points, with our names above them. I had gotten rid of the concept of any device needed for dueling to make it all part of my virtual world. Seeing it in the real word was unnerving.

Mokuba and I were standing too close to duel, though I had made it so that it could be done anywhere. I backed up a bit, the bathroom our arena. "I'm going to surrender once we start. We'll see if we can't end this idiocy." It wasn't as if I could summon any of my creatures without a sacrifice in any case. It would be an automatic forfeit.

I took my deck out of the pack and placed it in the air in front of me where it remained after I had let it go. Defying gravity should only be possible in a game. I let my anger at the fact that something so impossible was happening in front of me slide as Mokuba placed his own to hover before him as well. The lights that showed our names and life points turned from red to green, saying the duel could commence. A white light darted between our names, quickly, before slowing and remaining on Mokuba's, stating that he was to go first.

"Okay." I watched my brother draw five cards, placing one in front of himself, face up In the air as if there was a device reading it. "I summon White Magician Pikeru and I end my turn."

The girl who appeared looked as real as Mokuba, her outfit far too outlandish for anyone but a cosplayer to be wearing, her clothes too large for her and a staff in her hand. Mokuba had been getting more effect creatures.

I watched our names, seeing it change to my own. My game knew where no move could be made but I wasn't sure if reality did. My name darkened but the score didn't disappear. It would if I didn't surrender in the next five minutes, or at least it should. I put my hand over my deck and left it there. Vocalization wasn't necessary. The score vanished and I watched as the girl creature vanished as if she had never been there.

I moved, looking out the window. Monsters were still roaming the streets, though the people I had seen earlier were gone, likely either hiding or holding themselves up somewhere.

Mokuba came to the window besides me, letting out a breath. "Didn't work, huh? You talked to the guy who did this, right? I heard voices before the door opened. What did he say?"

"Nonsense about how I had done something to him and that my game would be my undoing. It seems to me he's doing more damage to the city than to me." I was unharmed, after all, and it seemed that following my storyline wasn't going to be the way to end this, unless Mokuba actually had to go find the NPCs and do the quests that led up to it. That was a possibility. "Maybe you have to play the game." I didn't know where my characters had gone but I had a clearer picture of it than the others. Then again, I didn't want to get mixed up in all this crazy magic that was going on. Reaching for my deck and taking it back, I looked at the blue-tinted Blue-Eyes in my hand. My real cards would be in my office, locked up. The game wasn't meant to accept real cards though, so I couldn't easily add more monsters.

"Well, what now? We can't actually play the game, right?"

"Why should we?" I stepped away from the window. The sword was still at my side so odds were that duel hadn't counted towards the game. I wasn't about to go running around, doing childish things, when it didn't really matter to me. "Let's go home."

"Seto!" I could hear Mokuba's footsteps click after me as I left the washroom, my hands folded across my chest while I went towards the stairs to take them back up to the ground floor. Kaiba Corp had defenses but the house was just as locked down when I needed it to be. Since Pegasus's intrusion I wasn't about to let anything happen to Mokuba, should he be there alone, or the few people that worked for us.

"This isn't my game anymore, Mokuba. It would have ended just now if it was. I'm going to the house. You can follow me or you can stay here, playing a game that isn't a game and isn't playing by my rules any more."

Mokuba's footsteps stopped and I kept going. My brother was his own person. If he wanted to stay behind and hide with the others, that was up to him. I wasn't about to get mixed up in this any more than I was.

Yugi was usually the one to deal with all this magic crap. While I had a feeling he knew nothing about what was going on now, he was a fast learner. He could figure it out and deal with it. There was no reason I should be involved at all. If some madman wanted to make my game real, so be it. That didn't make it my responsibility, though I was going to find the man and make him pay. No one touched what was mine.

I still had the Blue-Eyes in my hand, though I hadn't realized I was keeping hold of it. Even in reality now, the card didn't warp or bend like it should have while I was holding it. I walked out the hole in the large pane of glass instead of going to the door. It seemed the main power had been cut and there was no sense breaking the glass on the door as well. That back up power would keep all the secured areas intact.

The monsters wandering around the streets were all low-level creatures. They didn't seem to be attacking anything and a few were running in circles, jumping from spot to spot, or taking off and landing back where they had left off from. The monsters in my virtual reality were all based to look and seem as real as they could. I could easily see they were confused, uneasy. Creatures from a game with no base to set their own standards off any more when the environment I programmed them in was suddenly different would create a few bugs.

This wasn't my game anymore and I wasn't afraid of gaining attention. I held the card away from myself slightly. "I summon the Blue-Eyes White Dragon."

The creature appeared before me, looking as if a real dragon had materialized on the street. It was as large as my jet, though its skin wasn't metal and I reached out and touched it's face as it lowered its head towards me. I could see the concrete break up under it's clawed feet where it's nails dug into it. Petting its warmer skin and feeling as if I were touching the surface of very dense water, I mounted the dragon. Staring back at the building and not seeing Mokuba, I took out the phone at my waist. Let's see if this still worked the way it should.

Instead of keeping numbers it kept virtual, or real, contacts by name. Mokuba was the only one in my phone, for obvious reason, and I clicked on his name. The phone itself was only for an interface. The second I hit call it was as if I hearing ringing in my mind. That shouldn't be possible. I shook the thought off. It was hard to accept all the strange things that came with magic, as much as I told myself I should.

"Seto?"

"Catch." I opened up communication to him and took a card out of my pack, throwing to towards the building. I watched it vanish, hoping it had still worked and gotten to Mokuba. I shut the phone, ending the mental communication and returned it to its clip. I tipped my head upwards, the dragon below me striking its wings against the still air until we were dozens and then hundreds of feet up. Destination programming likely was all but useless now, so I tipped my head slightly to the right and then forwards, the dragon following my minute commands and taking me back home.


	4. Dragons

_I am disillusioned enough to know that no man's opinion on any subject is worth a damn unless backed up with enough genuine information to make him really know what he's talking about._  
\- H. P. Lovecraft

…

 **Chapter 3: Dragons**

Even if I went with Mokuba through the journey of the game, it wouldn't get me any further to finding the man behind all of this. I knew my kid brother wasn't the best but I gave him all he needed to get by. He'd have to find the quest givers on his own and a way to make it to the end but, once he did, I was sure that I'd know somehow. Being the final boss and all, even not following the rules, it would be downright stupid not for me to be pulled into my own story.

Before then I had plenty of time to look for Gaius. First I needed to get back to my house. The Blue-Eyes got me there quickly and I dismounted it, holding my hand up and the creature vanished, becoming a card once more that I slipped into my pocket as I opened the door of the mansion.

I wasn't about to go looking for the secret passage in the yard when I could just as easily get to my main computer through the basement. There were Duel Monsters covering a lot more of Tokyo than I had per square foot in the game. Then again, there were also potentially a lot more players. That shouldn't reflect the amount of monsters but I'd blame bugs again.

The workers were either gone or taking shelter I had set aside if the house was ever under attack. I ignored their missing presence and went down to the basement, accessing my workroom door and going down further underground, to the passage that lead to my computer.

The screens were black and I booted it up, checking to make sure everything started correctly. It seemed there were some aspects of the real word that the game didn't get rid of. Odds were then than the game simply overlaid Tokyo and everything that was already here was staying here, along with everything that shouldn't be.

"Hello, it's been a while," my computer's AI greeted me.

"I've had thing that I've been taking care of. I need you to look up anything you can on the details of this man." I put in his name and physical description as best I could, trying to remember everything from his height to a guess at his weight and heritage.

"Will do. There are updates showing up all over the place though about Duel Monsters in Japan. What's going on?"

"Nothing I need to worry about right now. Find that man for me." I was doing my own search on a separate screen of all the reports that were coming up. It seemed that the AI was right. The reports were from all over Japan, not just Tokyo. There was nothing from across the sea which meant it was at least contained here somewhat.

"There are a lot of results I'm getting. Can you be any more specific?"

"He ran into me at some point. He said something about a bridge." I shook my head. I didn't remember him at all and 'a bridge' was vague, even by my standards. "He must have been in Japan at some point or I ran into him while I was traveling. That hasn't happened in a while." There was another strange thing. I hated magic, didn't believe in it, and knew there had to be something else behind this, but I couldn't figure out what it was. He had that strange color to his eyes but that wasn't much of a clue. He was mad, or close to it. "He might have a history of mental disease, but don't use that as a search parameter for all of them. Separate any you find that match it as well as the rest into a separate category."

"Will do. By the way, my scanners are picking up several creatures on the property. They look like Duel Monsters. Are you going to just let them be?"

"For now." I could capture them but I didn't want to make myself a hard 'final boss' to beat if I capture anything low enough that I'd be able to take part in a duel. I stopped typing, going to the cards in my deck pack and picking them up. "Can you run a scan of these while you're at it?"

"Sure can." A red light washed over the room a moment, sweeping it over a second time while my computer scanned us. "Oh, wow. You're not going to believe this."

"What?"

"Well, the cards in your hand are giving off a heat signature. That's not really all that strange but when I scan over it, I can't get any other type of reading. It's like it's nothing but a heat signature. That's not the strangest part. Your own reading is exactly the same." I watched the monitor to my left turn on, a display of the room's scan showing up. "I can't scan you. It's like you're not there. The heat signature doesn't even vary as it travels through your body."

I put a hand up to my chin and rested it there, examining the monitor. There was no reason the scan shouldn't have picked me up. It should have been able to go down to bone and the heat signature should have changed depending on where my body was warmer. I showed up simply as a red mass on the screen, as did the card. A small realization hit me.

"The game is treating me like any other AI or the Duel Monsters themselves." That… made sense in a way but it brought up a lot more confusion in its wake. If I was being treated like the others and not as a player, defeating me was going to do what it did to every other monster in the game. I was going to vanish.

I had made it so the AIs in the story couldn't be destroyed and that players weren't able to indiscriminately attack the inhabitants of my world. I have never made such safety nets on my own character because it hadn't been necessary. The only time that someone was able to face the final boss was when the duel started. My role was never meant to be encountered outside of battle.

"Boss? You okay?"

"Fine." That was dangerous. If someone attacked me with a monster without challenging me to a duel, I could die. I wasn't sure if it would happen that way but that's where all these bugs came in. I was still me and I was no longer at the final area, because I was both a player and the NPC I had created to take over for me. I wasn't even sure that people still couldn't attack others without a duel being started now, but I knew for sure I wouldn't fall under the same protection should it still exist.

All in all it meant that the other players and my NPCs were protected from combat outside of duals with others and I was not.

There was also an upside. Seeing as my character was never meant to be more than a boss in a secluded area, I hadn't set in any perimeters for me not to be able to attack other players either. I couldn't, by default, if I were a player myself, but I was both now, and far more of me seemed to be leaning towards the character than my real self.

There was no way that punk knew my game like I did, knew that I was vulnerable. If he did, which was possible since he was clearly trying to use this as a way to get rid of me, I didn't think he considered that he was vulnerable as well. I felt a smile crawl across my face as I stared at the screen. "This game just got a whole lot more interesting. Computer, have you found him yet?"

"I have several matches but I'm still looking. Give me another ten minutes."

I let the computer work, going into more details on the articles that were exploding around the net. It seemed the graveyards had a lot of ghouls and zombie monsters in them. Several dozen had been hurt and I didn't miss that there had been a few fatalities. The dark monsters were going to be the hardest to deal with, as they were able to attack the characters. It seemed they were able to kill them now, for real, and I worried about Mokuba. My kid brother had a failsafe with him, so I was sure he would be safe, but he didn't know the game like I did – had never considered it dangerous.

"Boss?"

"Hm?" I looked away from the web page to the camera the AI used for its visuals. "What?"

"I think you should look at this."

The computer brought up a live broadcast on the monitor that had had the layout of the room on it. I could tell only from the icon at the bottom that it was being shot form Nagoya. I didn't need the words or the broadcaster's random appearances to know what was going on.

There were people all over the streets, clutching their head, laughing for no reason, running into walls, looting, a manic expression on all of their faces. Above them flew several Koumori dragons. I could see flames all over the city, buildings burning, people running in fear past the ones how had gone mad.

I closed my eyes a moment, took in and let out a breath, and stood. Mokuba wouldn't have this kind of information and, if the city burned, the madness would spread. "I suppose I should do something about that. Finish and refine your search. I'll be back."

I went up to the house again, changing my clothes now that I had the second to do so. I didn't have a pair of sunglasses and they would only get in the way. I threw my coat on around my shoulders and reached into my pack again, drawing out a Blue-Eyes and summoning it. It wasn't as if I had to help the city but I had capital there. If I let the dragons move on, it would only create more of a mess that I wasn't willing to help clean up anyway. They could very possibly get in my way and I wasn't about to by sidetracked by an even bigger disaster.

I mounted the dragon once more, taking off and noticing that it had started to get dark out. The sun was going down. I stared up, where the stars should be and wondered… Yes, there it was. In the sky was a glowing red light that could be mistaken for an incoming comet. I knew it for what it really was. That was where I was supposed to be. I was the dark king of the story, ruling over the people of the land in tyrannical fashion, each area I had created being wronged in some way that the heroes were meant to fix before facing me. I should be able to get up there, being who I was. That exploration would be for later, though I had an inkling that if I were the one behind all of this madness, I would want to go where no Duel Monster could attack me. The only place that fell into that category was the red kingdom in the sky.

I arrived at the town with the speed of the dragon beneath me before night completely took over. It was easy to find the small swarm of dragons, as they were still breathing fire everywhere.

Duel Monsters were never meant to go into combat with one another outside of battle. That wasn't how it worked. Apparently that rule had been broken completely and I had to duck into the dragon as flames were shot my way, the Blue-Eyes below me letting out a cry as it faulted in its flight path and started drifted off to the left and down a few dozen feet.

"Attack," I spoke, and the Blue-Eyes turned its head, a bright beam of lightening shooting from its mouth and striking down three of the dark dragons before it disappeared. The attack almost took out a full block of buildings and I overlooked the scene impassively. There were still four dragons left whose attention were now all turning to me, but it was better not to cause more damage than necessary. I could very well have just killed hundreds of people though the Koumori would have if I hadn't. "Down and attack again."

The Blue-Eyes dived and the dark dragons fired their breath at us. It wasn't the smartest idea on my behalf to have revealed myself so much to their attack. I had to jump off he white dragon or be hit by the flame that struck, making my dragon cry out again as I fell.

I called out to summon a different Blue-Eyes, watching my first disappear. Apparently my height restrictions had been done away with as well, which made sense because restarting should not mean having a game over in real life, and the dragon materialized above me. It dove down to grab me in a claw as I drew very close to a building. I looked up, seeing the fire far above now that the pervious dragon and I were no longer there. "Attack."

The new Blue-Eyes turned and shot lightening into the sky once more, lighting the somewhat dark sky. It streaked across the monsters, taking out two more dragons before playing among the clouds and disappearing.

The new Blue-Eyes did it's best to dodge the return fire but I was hardly in a position to be thrown around in the sky. The monsters were designed to obey and protect the person who had possession of them. It blocked most of the fire from getting to me, falling faster and in a strange spiral, one of its wings likely hit, before dropping me.

Falling through the air would normally not have bothered me. I had another dragon to summon and I was very confident I wouldn't die here. I had fallen from height before and come away with bruises at worst.

That would have been if we hadn't been close to the roof of the nearest building. It was a drop of maybe twenty feet, no time to summon another dragon to take up the space between me and a very hard, likely fatal, landing.

Claws dug into my shirt, ripping it but doing nothing more than grazing the skin of my arm. The ground quickly retreated from me as I went further into the air, dangling from the grasp of a much smaller, struggling dragon.

"Yo, Kaiba. I know you think you're all that but taking on that many monsters at a time when they still get to attack… Don't ya think that's a little crazy?"

I looked down at the scene, watching my Blue-Eyes follow the last order I had given it – to attack. It struck one of the remaining purple dragons, getting clawed and burned as the other circled around it. It quickly turned to the last and wiped it out of existence as well. I scanned the collateral damage. It wasn't all that bad but a lot of people who had been on the streets were likely no more. "Put me down, Wheeler."

"Still a long way to the ground there and, you know, it's on fire." The idiotic blond peeked around the orange dragon, both smiling at me like simpletons. I would never be able to look at Baby Dragon the same way again, though it's name fit it more than it should and would have fit Wheeler even better. "Woah. What happened to your face?"

"Shut up." I stuck out my hand, seeing if this worked again instead of having me look of the card. "I summon the Blue-Eyes White Dragon."

I watched as the Blue-Eyes from below vanished. I could have called it to me but it was burned and the injured wing was making it fly in a strange pattern. The Blue-Eyes from earlier appeared, a few burn marks but nothing wrong with its wings and no reason I shouldn't be able to ride it. "Now let me down." He was taxing his own dragon as it was.

"Maybe. Yugi wants to talk to you though. I didn't think I'd find you here. If I let ya go I have a feeling you're going to take off on me."

And why wouldn't I? It was clear that Wheeler, or likely Yugi, was already figuring out how to deal with the Duel Monsters. There was no reason they would need me and I wasn't offering my help.

Monsters of other players were never meant to be able to overpower other players. I addressed the small dragon instead, as it listened better. "Let me go."

I was let go, falling a dozen feet or so while the Blue-Eyes positioned itself under me and I landed on it's back, bracing myself and not stupid enough to try landing in a riding position. I shifted, nodding my head slightly and the Blue-Eyes using the small cue to take off back to the house. I needed to check out that kingdom but I needed to prepare before that. While I trusted my Blue-Eyes to win my battles, it wasn't all about brute force. That… cretin could have twisted my game in his own favor and I wouldn't know how until I reached him. I had to get a few more cards before I took off, but only a few.

I didn't miss the small orange form in the distance following me. I looked back several times until I was once more in Tokyo and stopped, eyeing my office building in the distance. I let the Blue-Eyes hover and the idiot catch up. "You're not going to leave me alone, are you?"

"Would like to know what's going on. There are Duel Monsters everywhere and Yugi said you were doing something big today. That, and you look like someone dumped you in a pile of soot and radiation. Ain't leaving without some kind of answer."

My eyes lidded and I thought of what to tell him. I could start them off to take care of this mess so I wouldn't have to. Then again, speaking to Wheeler aggravated me to no end. It was as if his very presence burned underneath my skin. "Where's Yugi?"

Wheeler tipped his head towards downtown Tokyo. "We're all supposed to meet up back at the shop. There aren't that many of us that kin fight so we've been more 'er less trying to play damage control. Looks like that's what you're doing as well."

"It was simply going to be a bigger problem if I had left it be." I couldn't see the shop but I looked in the direction Wheeler had indicated, nodding my head to the dragon and leading it down towards that part of town. Wheeler followed behind me, having a harder time getting his dragon to go where he wanted. That made me smile. Any child could figure out that I had made them work like a horse. The rest was all about body motion.

I didn't wait for the idiot when I arrived at the shop first, holding up my hand as if I were about to pick a card out of thin air. The Blue-Eyes vanished and appeared in my hand as said card. I put it away as I pushed the door opened, finding it locked or barricaded, and had to knock.

"Hello?" The old man, Yugi's grandfather, opened it. I could have been a murderer for all he cared. This was not the time to be opening doors without checking who was on the other side. There were far too many monsters that could look human. The old man only hesitated after he'd gotten a good look at me.

"Is Yugi here?"

"He should be back any moment. Seto Kaiba, right?" The old man shook his head, standing aside. I noticed he held no trace of fear towards me and narrowed my eyes. We hadn't gotten off on the right foot and I didn't care at all for the old man. I expected a little bit of hesitation.

I went inside anyway, seeing shelves of games, old enough to have been from my parent's generation. I didn't miss the glass case and the ancient computer that was standing a top of it. Old people should stop living in the past and let people like me show the children the future.

Leaning against the wall, near the door, not daring to go further into the cheap mix of a house and a shop, I crossed my arms and closed my eyes. "If you're going to ask any questions, I'm not answering them. Once Yugi gets here I can help a little but then you're on your own. I have things to do."

The old man stepped out the door and closed it before Wheeler came in. I had a feeling it would be a while until he figured out how to get his dragon to land. "No, I'm sure you know what you're doing. Tea? I made some earlier and there's a bit left in the pot."

"No thank you."

"Can I get you something to eat? I made lunch for when everyone gets back. There's plenty if you want some."

"No thank you," I repeated, more sternly. It was hard to just be standing here as it was. They would be able to take care of all the pointless stuff I didn't want to though and likely would be able to help Mokuba.

"Ppphhhhewww," Wheeler breathed out as scampered in, forcing me to look at him when he slammed the door unnecessarily loud and scuffed his shoes on the floor. "Baby Dragon needs a rest for a while. Yugi back yet?" The blond looked around the room, seeing only me, and shoved his hands in his pocket, taking the time to see the differences in my appearance. I didn't care much what he did though I noticed I had to hold back on a few comments that I normally would have spoken aloud.

The old man came back into the room before my temptation at striking Wheeler for doing nothing but staring at me turned into something more physical.

"Joey, why don't you go have some lunch? It's on the table. Yugi should be back soon and I'm sure that whatever Kaiba has to tell us is important. I'll come get you then."

"Sure." Wheeler shot me a harder look as he walked off into the kitchen, which had to be somewhere through the small doorway off to my left. The old man turned his attention to me afterwards, hands behind his back and a smile on his face. "I can get you a seat if you'd like."

"I'm fine."

The old man let out a heavy breath. "Very well. I'll answer the door when Yugi returns. Until then I'll be waiting with Joey in the other room. If you need anything, feel free to ask."

I didn't speak as he walked away. My eyes went to the closed door, my fingers tapping in worn patience against my arm where my shirt was ripped. I looked down at the folded pieces of torn cloth, not all that bothered by it. I had thought I made it so monsters couldn't get that close to other players. That was one more thing that had changed and that I wasn't all that angry about. I knew this was another game I wouldn't be able to release to the public but I couldn't help thinking that it may be a good concept to fix up.

I don't know how long it to before someone knocked at the door. I was tempted to answer it myself but I didn't want to deal with any of Yugi's friends if it wasn't him and the old man returned quickly enough.

"Man, gramps, the city is overrun. There are a whole bunch of beast monsters that are attacking people." I watched Yugi and that girl who was always with him walk into the game shop, noticing that only Yugi had one of the player belts. Yugi stopped before the girl, taking just a step before turning, stiffly, towards me, his hand going down to the deck pack.

"It's Kaiba. He came to talk to you." The old man waved Yugi forward so they could finish entering. Yugi relaxed, but only slightly, more surprise on his face than worry.

"Kaiba?"

"Deaf now? Maybe I'm wasting my time here then."

"Yeah, it's Kaiba. Only he can be that annoying," Wheeler spoke as he came back into the room. "Hey, Yugi. How'd it go?"

"Fine, I guess. There's still a lot of people who need help but we need more than just us and there's a lot of things we don't understand." Yugi's violet, too innocent and yet far too serious eyes found mine. "And I had a guess you had some of those answers. I heard that you were launching a game today and then all of this started happening. Nothing strange has been happening around here so I thought it might have been happening on your end."

"Unfortunately." I looked between the only two duelist in the game so far. If this was the best they had to offer, Mokuba could do without their help. "As for why it's happening, your guess is as good as mine. I can answer some of your questions though on one condition. You help Mokuba end this game."

"Game?" There was something dark about they way Yugi spit the questioning word at me, far more angry than the shorter teen usually was. "This isn't a game!"

"It is. A deadly game but a game. My game." Or it was. I still hadn't found all the exceptions to my rules yet, but this had still been mine. "Will you help Mokuba or not?"

"Why don't you?" Wheeler asked. "I mean, you're his brother."

"I'm also very busy." There was more than one reason I couldn't help Mokuba and my brother didn't need to know them. "Deal?"

The four occupants of the room looked at each other, the girl I noticed standing a bit back. It was if they were having some sort of silent conversation with one another before Yugi turned to me and nodded. "Sure."

"I'm going to treat you like the beginners you are." I touched the deck pack. "This is purely ornamental. You can summon any monsters that's in your control by sticking out your hand and calling it's name. You can only have one monster summoned at a time. Fusion monsters of two creatures you have do not have separate cards and can only be summoned this way."

"Oh." Yugi looked at his hand and stuck it out, though he didn't summon anything. "That makes things easier. Can magic and trap cards be used that way too?"

"I haven't found any. Glad to know they're still here somewhere." I'd need a few myself before I left. "And yes, they should. You have to use a mental picture of where you want it to be though or it will be placed anywhere and you can fall into the effect too."

"Yeah, yeah." Wheeler waved me off. "Duh."

I ignored him completely and turned my attention back to Yugi. "Do you know how this works?" I pulled out the cellular from the only other pouch at my side. Yugi took out his own and shook his head. "It's similar to an online friend list, only with more features. You can use it to send requests as long as you know a person's name. An image of those who are playing will pop up on the screen if there are more than one person with that name and you select it. They have to accept the request and then you can communicate with them, like any other phone. You can also use it to set up a link between you and a friend and send a card to them that way. Sending a card to someone is easy even if you aren't their friend. This is just used for distance." I reached into my pack and pulled out one of my dragons. "Watch and do what I do. I need the card back afterwards anyway. Catch." 'Catch' had been a good key word to use to help the system. The card glowed slightly and I tossed it to Yugi, it disappearing in the space between us before floating before him.

"Oh, wow." He reached out to take the card, Wheeler trying to take it first. It became immaterial and his hand slid right through it.

"Hey!"

"I gave it to Yugi. You can't steal in my game."

Yugi took it, the card solid. Wheeler tried his luck again and attempted to take it out of his hand but it again slide right through. "That's pretty cool."

"You have to say 'catch'. Now give it back."

Yugi nodded. "Catch." He threw it and, as before, it disappeared temporarily before coming back to me. I put it back in the pack.

"It works the same if you use the phone connection, so you can do it over large distances." I folded my arms again and leaned on my heel some. "Now, about the Duel Monsters, how did you get them?'

"Ah," Wheeler said as he scratched his head. "Baby Dragon was kind of in my room the second all this craziness started." He held off a few seconds, as If debating what to say aloud. "I kind of just talked to him after a while and he watched me. I got a sandwich out of my fridge and unwrapped it, the not so little guy kind of running at me to get the tin foil. After that he just kind of played with it a second and turned into a card. It was really weird."

Yugi nodded, his eyes on Wheeler as he told his story before resting back on me. "I wasn't home when they all showed up. The first monster I ran into was Shining Friendship, so I wasn't really all that scared. It told me it wanted me to go draw a picture of a rainbow so I went home and did that." Yugi pulled out the card of the little green ball with wings. "Unlike Baby Dragons, Shining Friendship can't fly with me, so Joey went to go see what he could do to stop the Koumori Dragons. Grandpa's been watching the news and telling us what's been going on."

"Each monster will want something different. Give the fire ones fire. Give the dragons something that shines. The fairy's will give you questions and the warriors will challenge you somehow. Fiends want certain items and beasts want certain foods. It's all pretty simple once you know that. Considering that my items and the food here is different, anything could happen. Your guess is as good as mine." I nodded my head towards Yugi. "Of course my game wasn't just about monsters. I had NPC's and a story line to go with it, of a tyrant who was ruling the kingdom. There were seven main story quests you had to complete. I'm not sure how that works now but my guess is that it's similar. There's no simply beating the boss to end this game. For all I know the NPCs I created could be all around Japan and look like anyone."

"So, we have to play this game of yours, here?" The girl spoke up. I closed my eyes, knowing she'd hardly be playing. I wasn't relying on her in the least.

"Mokuba can help. He knows a good deal about the game, though he was never introduced to the story line or the AI's I had created. I suppose I can help you search for one as I'm curious what happened to them as well, but you had better keep up."

Wheeler huffed and slipped his hands into his pockets again. Yugi nodded and the girl shifted as if she were unsure what she should be doing.

"Well, I guess lunch will have to wait," the old man spoke. "Good luck to you all."


End file.
